When Hajj pilgrims fall prey to agents\' greed

Hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam. There is no denying the fact that every pious Muslim, irrespective of gender, dreams of performing Hajj at least once in his/her life time. To materialise the dream, they take preparation for savings whatever they can after meeting family expenses.
Most people in our country tend to perform holy Hajj at a later age due to economic hardships. Even many of them sell out a piece of land to bear the expenditures of Hajj.
This year 0.101m (1,01,829) pilgrims including management personnel performed the holy Hajj from Bangladesh, according to Ministry of Religious Affairs data.
As a one of the largest Hajj performing countries, the number of pilgrims is increasing day by day in Bangladesh. According to the statistics provided by Hajj office in Dhaka, the number of intending Hajis increased to a great extent after 2009.
Around 55,000 people went to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj in 2009. In 2010, the number almost doubled reaching 95,000. In 2011 the number reached 0.11m (1,10,000) and in 2012 it stood at 0.118m (1,18,000).
After 2013 due to expansion work at Haram Sharif, the number had started declining. This year, the Saudi government fixed the pilgrims' quota for Bangladesh at 0.12m (1,02,500) including management team personnel. But this year 0.15m (1,50,000) people got registered to perform Hajj. Due to shortage of quota this extra 50 thousand people will have to perform Hajj next year.
With the rise in number of pilgrims, the sufferings of the intending Hajis are also mounting. Taking the advantage of increasing number of pilgrims, a section of greedy people in connivance with some government officials and the Hajj agencies and their agents is trading on the miseries of the pilgrims.
Due to deceitful acts of different Hajj agencies, profit mongering, mismanagement and lack of coordination between Hajj agencies and the authorities concerned, the sufferings of Bangladesh pilgrims have become a common scenario.
According to the Hajj package 2016, the minimum cost of a pilgrim was set at Tk 0. 304m (Tk 3,04,903), which is an increase of Tk. 8,697 over the previous year. Though the government fixes the cost of performing Hajj, the amount varies from one agency to another. This year the government-fixed amount was over Taka 0.3m (three lakh). But according to data of Hajj Agencies Association of Bangladesh (HAAB), around 70 per cent pilgrims of our country performed Hajj at a cost of Tk 0.25 m (Tk 2. 5 lakh) to Tk 0.27m (Tk2. 70 lakh). This raises a question among the public minds of the logic of government's fixing the amount. Some unscrupulous Hajj agencies with less experience and logistic support allure the pilgrims from rural areas with the help of their set agents or middlemen. They assure the pilgrims of providing good facilities in Mecca and Madina.
But many pilgrims fall prey to the agents of Hajj agencies because of their ignorance about the procedure to go for performing Hajj. The moment the agreed amount of money is paid to the agents or middlemen the sufferings begin. In many cases the journey to Mecca becomes uncertain for lack of police clearance, flight debacle and other irregularities for which the innocent illiterate, even sometimes literate pilgrims are not to be blamed.
The pilgrims mostly face accommodation, food and guidance problem during the Hajj. Most houses rented by agencies are shabby and noisy. Due to negligence of the agencies and breach of their promises many pilgrims feel disheartened.
With the announcement of Hajj flights, the real ordeal begins from the home country and it continues until their return after performing Hajj. They face problem at the immigration in absence of proper documents, which are supposed to be furnished by the agency earlier.
It was seen on television that many pilgrims left the airport crying after failing to board the scheduled flight. The agents at that time disappear from the airport to avoid anger from the relatives of the victim pilgrims. The most harrowing tale is that some guides of Hajj agencies collect money for the sacrificial animals from the aged pilgrims and assure them of feeding sacrificed animals' meat. It is alleged that those dishonest people spend half of the collected money for sacrificial animals and pocket rest of the amount.
Mushrooming of Hajj agencies has led to malpractices centring the Hajj and Umrah.  Many agencies allegedly are involved in the human trafficking in the name of sending pilgrims to Saudi Arabia. For this reason the government of Saudi Arabia stopped issuing Umrah visa to Bangladeshi pilgrims last year.
In 2016, after long discussion with Bangladesh, the Saudi government lifted the restriction. Press reports say that some dishonest Hajj agencies send a group of people with Hajj visas who start begging after landing in Jeddah and they earn a handsome amount during the Hajj period. These malpractices by a group of people also earned a bad name for the country.
According to some Hajis who were lucky enough to perform Hajj in 2016, many pilgrims had to spend nights on pavements upon arrival in Mecca amid crisis of food, medical treatment, guides and mismanagement by the Hajj agencies.
At least 1,200 Hajis have lodged written complaints with the Bangladesh Embassy in Saudi Arabia this year. The Bangladesh government had spent a big amount of money to recruit at least 112 local volunteers, including Indians and Bangladeshis. But the Hajis complained that they did not find any such volunteer to guide them.
Golam Masih, Bangladesh's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, told a private television channel most of the Bangladeshi Hajj pilgrims had to suffer immensely.
"I feel sorry for the sufferings of the general Hajis due to mismanagement of the Hajj agencies. I have received 1,200 written complaints against some private agencies. The situation is very bad. Many Hajis passed the night on pavements or the embassy balcony," he told the television channel.
Mohammad Hellal, Senior Vice President of HAAB, told journalists: "Presently we have around 1,400 Hajj agencies.  Every year five hundred to six hundred agencies take permission for sending Hajj pilgrims."  
 "We don't need more agencies. Malpractices and irregularities are done mostly by these agencies for lack of experience," he added.
The ministry of religious affairs should blacklist the agencies responsible for such mismanagement, he said suggesting that the government should be stricter about issuing licences to Hajj agencies.
Secretary of the Ministry of Religious Affairs Abdul Jalil acknowledged the ministry's limitations while talking to another television channel. In the present Hajj rules, the ministry has no authority to be involved in the renting of houses by the agencies in Saudi Arabia, as Indonesia and other Muslim countries can.
Providing services to the Hajj pilgrims is a sacred job. Keeping this in mind, Hajj agencies, government officials and authorities involved in the task should launch a campaign to eliminate the evil forces who cause tremendous sufferings and miseries for the hajj pilgrims. Moreover, the government has a responsibility to ensure pilgrims' welfare and bring those culprits who are involved in causing woes to pilgrims inside and outside the government machinery to book.

The writer is a senior news consultant at The Financial Express.  [email protected]